New Study Reveals Poverty Growing Twice as Fast in Suburbs

"Cities still have higher poverty rates - about 19.5 percent, compared with 10.4 percent in the suburbs. But the gap has been steadily narrowing. In a reversal from 2000, the number of poor people living in the suburbs now exceeds those in cities by roughly 1.6 million," reports Hope Yen.

"More than half, or 57, of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas had substantial increases in poverty. They were most evident in Sun Belt suburban areas including Modesto and Riverside, both in California, as well as the Florida cities of Lakeland, Orlando, Miami and Tampa, which had seen large population gains during the housing boom."

Elizabeth Kneebone, a senior research associate at the Brookings Institution, said the numbers highlighted a need for local governments to develop regional approaches to tackling poverty that encompass both city and suburb.